Under my skin
by MysticalMudkip
Summary: Ryou can only watch from the sideline when his Yami takes over his body. Locked away in his soulroom he decides to find out more about the past of his darkness. And that's when he discovers the dark, cruel fade of thief king Akefia.
1. The untouched door

AN: Finally I posted my first fanfic. I pushed myself to the edge and when I was about to fall down I thought 'what could be worse? Die or post a fanfic?' X'D

Well this is the first chapter for my first fic so please don't be too hard on me. Feedback is OK though. So if you notice something please tell me.

~*~ Mystical Mudkip ~*~

* * *

Ryou Bakura woke up in a place that was all too familiar to him.

He sighted. This was already the third time this week he opened his eyes to see the familiar space of his soulroom. Lately, when he woke up it was either here or in his own body with a memory that was totally blank.

Though he had been sleeping Ryou felt tired. He was getting tired of this and got the feeling that if his Yami would continue this way he, Ryou Bakura would no longer exist.

Though he could not see his Yami directly, Ryou was aware of his presence. The Yami had appeared in his soulroom just a moment ago.

It was not as much as a shock to Ryou as it had happened for a several times now. Ryou was OK with the presence of his Yami. He didn't really approve the things his darkness did, and it was not that he wanted to share his body with him but still…

Ryou didn't know better than this. It had always been this way. Well actually not always, the Yami came into his life when Ryou was ten years old. When his father gave him his most precious possession, the millennium ring.

Despite all the things that the Yami had done to Ryou, and especially his friends, Ryou had a strong feeling that he needed him. The spirit of the ring knew more about him than anyone else, and sometimes he wondered if he should be glad or scared about that fact.

The soulroom contained a lot of bookshelves filled with all kinds of books and games. There were also some characters from the monster world game. And there was the bed in one of the corners. The soulroom also contained a door.

Ryou had never tried to open that door, he knew better than that.

_-_-_- Flashback -_-_-_

_The first time Ryou ended up in his soulroom he had turned all his attention to the room itself so he hadn't even noticed there was a door at all. It was the second time in his soulroom when he noticed the door._

_He curiously walked towards the door. 'I wonder what I'll find on the other side' he thought. His hand already took a hold at the doorknob when he felt his body freeze._

_"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a deep voice spoke._

_Ryou turned to face the spirit form standing in the middle of his soulroom, his hand still on the doorknob._

_The spirit looked almost exactly the same as Ryou, but only slightly older and with messier hair._

_"I know what you're thinking," the spirit continued. "You don't want to listen to me. And that's strange you know. For I will never really harm my former host, and you damn well know that." His voice was cold and calm._

_"I don't trust you. You're hurting my friends every time!" Ryou snapped at his Yami._

_"I'm only hurting them because its best for us," Yami explained. Causing Ryou to look confused._

_Yami Bakura walked towards his host, who was also in spirit form. He put his right hand on Ryou's that was still holding the knob. Ryou shivered, but not out of fear._

_The taller spirit buried his face in Ryou's white hair and started whispering. "I just told you that I will never really harm you. Well I can only guarantee that if you never open this door. For you must know that when you open it all the rules will change."_

_The Yami rose up his head and was now facing his host. Their faces were so close their noses almost touched. The look in his eyes was very intimidating._

_Slowly the determined expression on Ryou's face changed. Now he looked fragile and obedient. He knew he was never going to win this as he was the weaker part of them both._

_Ryou let go of the doorknob and was certain he never ever would have the nerve to touch it again._

_-_-_-End flashback-_-_-_

Ryou looked to the corner on the left from his point of view. The Yami watched him from a distance. 'It's creepy when he is watching me that way' the host thought as he got up from the bed and sat up straight.

"Hi…" Ryou said. But there was no response. "In that case…" he jumped from the bed and walked towards one of the bookshelves. He picked one of the books from it and he made his way back to the bed where he began to read. The book was part one of his most favorite stories, the wheel of time by Robert Jordan.

Some time had passed when his Yami finally spoke. "You look so harmless when you're reading, I like that."

Ryou looked up from his book. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Yami didn't answer the question but came quickly to the point. "I have to take care of some stuff and I need your body for that. So I want you to stay in your soulroom and behave like a good host." He was grinning widely and petted Ryou on the head, like he was a well behaving dog.

The Hikari nodded. 'Well very kind of you to inform me of the upcoming events' he thought sarcastically.

"I don't want you to interfere with any of my actions. So don't do anything while I'm gone, just read a book or whatever. Have fun." With that the Yami disappeared from the soulroom.

Ryou still sat on the bed with the book in his hands. Suddenly his eyes met the door. Yami had given him several warnings, as if there was something that he was hiding. Something that he didn't wanted Ryou to know about. Why else did he make it so clear that the room was forbidden area. There was also a strange feeling that told him to just open it. 'Nothing bad will happen when you open it.' It seemed to say. It was not really like a voice in his head but felt more like a real person.

He wondered what Yami was doing right now. Was it possible that when he opened the door Yami would instantly know?

When Ryou was in control of his own body he knew yami could see what he was doing. He was sure of this because Yami could recall every of his memories and "adventures" from when Ryou was in control and even from before the two souls had even made a connection. Yami was clearly better in this though. Ryou himself had only had a few of those experiences when he could see Yami controlling his body from an outside view. He wondered if it was the same the other way around. Could Yami see what he was doing in his soulroom right now? Maybe if his other side was distracted at the moment…

Just to be sure Ryou tried to see what happened in the outside world. To his surprise it was a lot easier than he thought. 'Maybe because I never tried that hard before,' He thought

He was floating above his own body now. The Yami was at the Domino pier. He was in a conversation with someone Ryou had never seen before. The guy looked Egyptian. He had a tanned skin, blonde hair and was wearing a striking lavender top that showed his midriff.

Curious what they were talking about, the white haired teen tried to move closer, but without success. Although he could see them both clear he couldn't hear a word of their conversation.

'Looks like he's pretty busy right now,' the Hikari thought. 'Now is my change.'

He closed his eyes and when he opened them he was back in his soulroom. Ryou walked confidently towards the door, grabbing the familiar doorknob.

This time Yami didn't stop him.

~*~ End of chapter 1 ~*~

* * *

AN: Well I hope that wasn't too bad.

If you have noted any grammar mistakes or errors please feel free to tell me. English is not my first language so I'm trying the best I can :3


	2. Yami's soulroom

AN: As you will discover reading this chapter this story takes place during the Battle City Tournament.

~*~ Enjoy :-) ~*~

* * *

Ryou walked confidently towards the door, grabbing the familiar doorknob.

This time Yami didn't stop him.

The Hikari felt his heart beat faster as he opened the door.

A part of him was expecting that something would happen. That his Yami would get some sort of signal. But nothing happened.

He eventually relaxed and focused on what was behind the door. It led to a small simple hallway. On the opposite of the door to his soulroom was another door.

Ryou closed the door and carefully opened the next one. What he saw confirmed his suspicion. This was defiantly Yami's soulroom.

When he entered the room Ryou could feel the temperature drop down in an instant. His own soulroom had a warm aura, but Yami's was dark and cold, representing the soul of its owner.

The room was quite dark and dusky, but there were a few things Ryou could tell apart. In the middle of the room there was some kind of throne. It was surrounded by golden utensils and other treasures. One of the walls was "decorated" with something that looked like a giant stone tablet. The tablet was showing a strange creature. It looked like a strong man with a snake attached to his body.

Suddenly something got Ryou's attention. From one of the corners there was a little bit of light piercing through the darkness. Suddenly he felt a strong sense of hope and joy that seemed to come from within him. Without even knowing what he was doing Ryou walked towards the light. It seemed like something, the voice from before, was calling out to him. Somehow it looked like a safe haven in the darkness.

Ryou was not even halfway across the room when he felt a horrible stinging pain in his left arm. He felt dizziness and dropped down to the floor of Yami's soulroom.

* * *

Ryou opened his eyes to find out he was back in his body now. He vaguely recognized the face of the Egyptian his Yami had talked to earlier.

He still felt the stinging pain in his arm and when he looked down at it he could see a terrible deep cut with slifer red blood soaking out of it.

"Wha- what happened?" He asked the tanned boy in a weak voice. His own words seemed to come from far away and he felt as if he was going to faint.

"You're hurt. We should get you to the hospital," the blond Egyptian calmly replied. He quickly put some bandages around Ryou's arm and supported the other one as they walked towards the road.

* * *

Just at the same time Joey, Tristan and Thea left the aquarium.

"Look over there! Isn't that Bakura?" Thea shouted in horror.

The three of them ran over to the two boys.

"Bakura what happened?" Thea asked worried.

"I don't know. It all happened so quickly," Ryou said. Then he collapsed.

* * *

In the next following hours Ryou's consciousness switched between his body and his soul. One moment he was lying in a hospital bed shivering of the pain in his arm, and the next he was in his soulroom where he didn't feel any better.

Some hours had passed when Ryou opened his eyes to see where he was. He immediately recognized his own soulroom. He wanted to close them again when he saw Yami lying next to him. They lay on their sides facing each other.

Then Ryou realized something and nearly panicked. 'Does he know?'

"You look so peaceful when you are sleeping. It's so different from when you are awake. Then you are annoying and overconfident," the Yami grinned.

Ryou hoped his brown eyes didn't give him away. 'Is yami acting so strange because of what I've done?'

"I guess you want to know what happened," the Yami snapped him out of his thoughts. "And I think you have the right to know." He still grinned as Ryou gave him a sheepish nod. "Well I cut the arm of our body."

Ryou jumped up into a sitting position, his face filled with horror. "Why did you do that?" he cried out, forgetting about the whole door issue.

"Calm down my dear landlord." Yami was now in sitting position as well. He grabbed both of Ryou's arms, and the Hikari grimaced at the pain in his left arm. "Oh I'm sorry about that." Yami said as he loosened his grip.

The white haired boy with brown eyes did not try to break out of the grip. "So why did you do it?" he asked curious." Although he had been shocked at first he was calm now

The Yami smiled. He could appreciate this in his landlord. Any other mortal would have gone crazy by now but Ryou was still standing with both feet on the ground.

"Because of something that I want. I'm helping Marik out so he will give me the millennium rod."

Stern looking brown eyes met the Yami's own violet eyes. "You are not planning on hurting Yugi and his friends again do you?"

"Why do you care about them so much," the Yami asked, rolling his eyes.

"Because they are my friends, that's why!"

"Mhahahahahaha….. You got to be kidding me right?'

Ryou didn't know what to do. He felt both angry and lonely. He just sat there saying nothing.

"They are not your friends. They don't even notice when I take over your body to do stuff. They really don't care about you. Don't forget who your real friends are." The Yami pointed at himself. "Don't forget it was me who saved you and your so called "friends" from that underground labyrinth in Duelist Kingdom."

"I wish I had never put that ring back on," Ryou muttered sadly. But he immediately regretted what he had said.

His Yami was looking at him furiously. He slapped Ryou in the face. "You stupid landlord. If it wasn't for me, by now you would have more scars than the one I gave you by cutting your arm. I'm pretty damn sure that you would have ended up in a hospital, or maybe even had died from all the bullying."

The Yami watched as his host sat in front of him, his brown eyes filled with shock.

"Do you think I've always been like this? That I've always liked to hurt people? Well, how damn wrong you are! Once I too was innocent, but that was before I learned how hard life can be at people." He spat.

Ryou just sat there not knowing what to say.

"Well… I…" he stuttered.

But his Yami did not continue his rampage. Instead he took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"What I mean to say is that things are not always what they seem like. Yugi, the pharaoh, their friends, they are all fighting for what they believe as the good side. But what if the things they believe in are just misleading and manipulative? Three thousand years ago the pharaoh wasn't such a nice guy after all. They are all used, like they are pawns in a game of monster world."

"I…" Ryou still didn't know what to answer. He really needed to think over the things his Yami had told him. 'Maybe it is not a bad idea at all to stand by Yami's side' he thought. Strangely that thought made him feel better.

"What will happen now?" he asked returning to the subject they started with.

"Nothing you will notice," Was the answer the other one gave him. His voice was calm and almost caring. "Just stay here and rest. I still need your body so you have plenty of time to think over everything I've told you. O and don't worry about the pain in your arm. As long as you stay in your soulroom it will go away soon, so you'll be fine." With that he disappeared.

* * *

"Time to enter the finals is running out. You'll need to obtain six locator cards in order to qualify." Marik laughed as he left Yami Bakura's soulroom.

"And you will be the first one to die when I accomplish my goal," the Yami said clutching his teeth. He grinned, "Well right after I killed the pharaoh of course."

He looked down at the vessel that was lying in the hospital bed. On the side of the bed was Yugi's grandfather, who too well reminded the Yami of someone.

"There's business to be done," he muttered to himself as he disappeared from his own soulroom.

* * *

The eyes of the vessel opened as Yami Bakura took control.

He got up from the bed, paralyzed Yugi's grandpa and went out to collect the six locator cards he needed. The fact that he was badly injured didn't really matter as he was just a spirit in control of someone else's body. He was able to feel things such as pain but could also switch off these feelings.

Though the Yami left his soulroom there was still someone there who was now looking down on him. The half of Yami Bakura's own soul.

* * *

Call my name

Someone's calling voice  
is the deep sadness of the darkness.

Your white face  
is the light reaching me.

Darkness or light, as long as I don't know  
will this love be delayed till I know?

We spend all day  
waiting for tomorrow morning to come.

Tomorrow, even if you are broken  
I won't run away from here.

I'll heal your tired body  
and make you smile.

~*~ YuGiOh season 0 ending ~*~

~*~ End of chapter 2 ~*~

* * *

AN: I have a lot on my mind right now so I'm afraid I won't post any new chapters soon. I work at a flower shop and in the next weeks we are renovating the whole shop. It will be much bigger and prettier. And after that the Christmas rush will start. So I will be busy for awhile. But hey, don't worry I won't give up on this story :-D

And again: if you have noted any grammar mistakes or errors please feel free to tell me


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